Slovenia

Slovenia: Ambassador,Permanent Representative to the OECD

Mr. Iztok JARC

Ambassador Iztok JARC took up his duties as Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the OECD on 13 January 2014.

Mr. Jarc was born in 1963 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Ljubljana.

Between 2000 and 2004, Mr. Jarc served as Member of Slovenia’s core negotiating team for EU membership and Chairman of the Special Accession Programme for Agricultural and Rural Development (SAPARD) Monitoring Committee in Ljubljana. Previous assignments included Head of Unit for Bilateral Economic Relations with foreign countries within the Ministry of Economic Relations and Development; member of Slovenia’s negotiating team for World Trade Organisation membership; Counsellor for Economic Affairs within the Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union, and Head of Unit for European integration and Economic Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Jarc was State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. In 2004, he was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the State of Israel, and in 2007 he was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food taking over the Presidency of the European Union’s Council for Agriculture and Fisheries for the first half of 2008. From 2009 to 2013, Mr. Jarc served as Ambassador to the Court of St James in London. In the course of his work, Mr. Jarc published numerous articles on European Union affairs, trade and agriculture issues in Slovenia, he is also the co-author of the “White Book” of the Executive Council of the Republic of Slovenia on Slovenia’s accession to the European Economic Community and speaks regularly on various governmental policy issues in Slovenia and abroad.

From 2013 until his nomination as Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the OECD, Mr. Jarc served as non-residential Ambassador of Slovenia to Ireland.

Mr. Iztok JARC is married to Ms. Helena JARC and they have three children.